AdWords Looks Different, Google's Navigation Panel Test Could Lead To New Ad Spots, YouTube May Offer Paid Subscriptions, & More

This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

Google Unveils New AdWords Design

Google is rolling out its new AdWords look and design over the next few days. The new look simplifies the interface with redesigned menus, tabs, navigation and buttons in an effort to make the most import things-like your data-stand out.
Source: The Official Google AdWords Blog

Google Tests Navigation Pane Below Results, Could Be A Sign Of New Ad Placements

An interesting new navigation panel appears to be showing up in some Google search results. It moves the search options from the left side of the screen to the top. This leaves a lot of white space on the left column. It’s possible this could be filled with more product listing ads or more Google+ integration.
Source: Search Engine Land

Yellowbook, Bing Return More Accurate Business Listings Than Google

When it comes to the accuracy and comprehensiveness of business listings on the web, Yellowbook and Bing outperform Google, according to one new study. The study, conducted by Implied Intelligence, ranks Google Maps fourth, behind Bing, Superpages and Yellowbook. Bing showed the most drastic improvement since the last study.
Source: Search Engine Land

Are YouTube Paid Subscriptions On The Horizon?

Although in the primordial ooze stage of development, it appears that YouTube may soon offer paid channel subscriptions. In the vein of an a la carte menu, YouTube is likely to target smaller cable channels, most of which don’t pull in a ton of revenue from these package deals. YouTube could offer a targeted, more direct stream of revenue by offering paid subscriptions to users.
Source: Search Engine Journal

So Much For Google Losing Market Share

comScore releases a search engine market share report each month, providing numerical proof to match the “eye test” that is knowing Google holds nearly all the chips. However, May’s report revealed that Google, at 66.7%, has hit a record high in market share.
The equal and opposite reaction to this action was Yahoo’s record low market share of 13.4%. In case you were wondering, Bing remained its stagnant, 15.4% self throughout the month.
Source: Search Engine Watch

Google Encounters A Lot of Hacked Sites

Google’ security blog announced Tuesday that 12 to 14 million search queries per day on its site return warnings indicating that one or more results have been compromised. Compromised sites have been hacked, but are not necessarily harmful to the use if clicked on.
When harmful sites that are encountered, Google offers a more extensive warning that says visiting the site could result in your computer being infected with malware. Google detects about 9,500 new malicious websites every day.
Source: Search Engine Land

Facebook’s CTO Steps Down

Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer Bret Taylor resigned Monday. Taylor joined Facebook in 2009 when the company acquired Taylor’s website FriendFeed. Taylor departs as Facebook still tries to bounce back from a frustrating initial public offering.
Source: Search Engine Watch

Notable Commentary

Fit For An SEO King

Apple’s True Retina Is Only A Step Towards The Perfectly Pixelated Screen

John Brownlee admits that Apple’s True Retina display is impressive, but it only faintly cracks the ceiling of future pixelated screen technology. Essentially, the display on your current iPhone or MacBook will look like the 1951 Motorola 19CT1 in the not-so-distant future.
Analysis By: John Brownlee, Cult Of Mac

A Website With A GeoCities Background Ranks At The Top Of Google Places

This article serves as a good example of the presence of unpredictability in Google’s Places 7-Pak, but really the best part is the website itself. The year 1998 would be proud.
Analysis By: Chris Silver Smith, Search Engine Land

Why Do Spam Emails Always Pretend To Be People In Nigeria?

It seems that spam has become easier and easier to detect, often claiming to be long lost relatives stuck in foreign lands with no money (yet somehow, access to the Internet). A Microsoft researcher attempted to answer the question posed above, and came away with an interesting conclusion: they’re intentionally easy to detect.
Analysis By: Jeffrey Bloomer, Slate

Aaron Wall, founder of SEO Book, has been one of the most influential players in SEO for years. Last week, he stopped by BlueGlass to talk about Google’s recent updates, how SEO has changed over the years, and how Google’s business interests coincidentally align with many relevancy signals.
Analysis By: Daniel Tynski, BlueGlass

The World Of Local Search Is Changing

This article provides analysis on how the power dynamic in local search is shifting. In the beginning a handful big content sites more concerned with ad-driven monetization than user experience dominated the space. Now big data sites have taken control. Specifically, Google’s Panda update has challenged big content sites to either make the user experience a key consideration or fall out of favor in the search engine’s results.
Analysis by: Jiyan Wei, Search Engine Watch

Article Offers Content Ideas For E-commerce Sites

This article offers a few tips for e-commerce sites on what kinds of content to create and how to utilize it. One key tip is to not bury helpful articles in your site’s blog. While blogs are a great way to add more content to your site and boost organic traffic, the fact remains that most shoppers on your e-commerce site won’t make it there. These helpful snippets are best utilized on product pages.
Analysis By: George Aspland, Search Engine Land

How To Choose The Domain Name That Best Fits Your Needs

Cyrus Shepard weighs in on his process for finding optimal domain names, as well as a few characteristics that really matter when you’re registering a new domain name.
Analysis By: Cyrus Shepard, SEOmoz

Distinguishing Between Vendors And Consultants

While some people may use these terms interchangeably, there are some major differences between the roles of a consultant and those of a vendor. SEOmoz was kind enough to devote last week’s Whiteboard Friday to this concept.
Analysis By: Rhea Drysdale, SEOmoz